Muddy Meadow
by Raven2120
Summary: On Chocobos' and Chocoboheads. Avalanche takes a detour to a meadow. A short look into an occurance, with a small amount of humor, that could have happened during the group's Chocobo hunt. Rated 'T' for a few swear words, just to be safe.


Off in the distance, below the steady noise of the Highwind's engines, the group could make out two forms. The current passengers aboard the Highwind leaned over the rail to stare out the glistening glass windows, to the meadow below. Eight pairs, technically 7.5, and of course the camera that was feeding the visual to a being miles away, were scrutinizing the two below. It seemed as if they were dancing around each other, the tops of their heads spinning like tops, or so it appeared from the high vantage point of the Highwind.

"I can't tell who is who anymore..." the young girl laughed thoroughly amused. The two figured continued to dart around each other, it seemed one of them attempted valiantly to dive after the other, it took him a moment to regain his footing.

The foul-mouthed, tea-obsessed pilot started laughing uncontrollably at the spectacle, and the laughs descended to a fit of coughing. The proud teen happily helped out by, gently, thwacking him on the back. He lurched forward a bit at her oh-so-gently life saving "pat" on the back.

The group squinted; they could barely make out the frustrated gestures, and amused ones from the first being's "nemesis". It pranced around the flustered yellow-purple blob, blatantly taunting him. The first yellow splotch lunged after the bully; it was a rather amusing game of 'cat and mouse'.

"Ya reckon we should bail him out?" the headstrong gun-arm man exasperated, his voice spilling over with amusement, hardly containing the reverberating laughter at the pitiful display playing out before him.

"Hmm... I suppose we don't want to be here all day" the emerald-eyed woman giggled lightly. The pilot once again manned the controls and, set down the large craft as quietly as possible. At that exact moment the first spot's persistence paid off, he had managed to capture the second, not quite as easy as he'd first thought.

They disembarked from the craft, walking down the plank, their feet sinking slightly into the slippery grass.

"Is it my imagination? Or do they resemble each other more from down here…." The great beast gave a toothy grin. The victorious blonde gave a small wave in greeting, gesturing to the moping captive.

"Their 'air is almost identical" the moogle bounced happily along, the tuxedo cat sat comfortably atop it. The pair in question began walking towards the group, quickly closing the distance between them. Upon closer inspection, the captor was smeared with mud, probably from the constant diving after the, almost subdued, captive. The two groups meet in the muddy meadow.

"It's uncanny..." the red clad man softly said. The taller of the two in question tilted his head blinking. The long-haired brunette shifted forward, her face scrunched up in study, her feet sinking into the thick mud; they made a sick squelching noise as she stepped forward.

"Even their eyes are the same..." she stated in awe, she leaned back from her observation and tapped her chin in thought.

The two in question eyed each other; the shorter of the two raised his eyebrow skeptically and crossed his arms over his chest.

"What.. ya think they're related or something' F-ed up like that?" the scruffy, not so clean mouthed, man grunted while smacking his brand new cigarette pack against his palm.

"Judging by the identical looks we're receiving…" by now the larger group was receiving rather bewildered glances.

"What are you guys talking about?" he raised a skeptical eyebrow at the group. He honestly didn't understand what was so amusing. Who was similar? He scratched the back of his neck, thinking on their strange behavior.

"I GET it now.. The nickname!" the klepto bounced over to the marital artist and cackled merrily. "It is sooo obvious…" she skipped over to Cloud and flipped at his hair, then ceased wiping tears of mirth from her eyes.

Now quite flustered, and only slightly inclined as to what they are all so amused about. Well, Vincent had his face ducked into that annoying cloak; he just KNEW that he was smirking underneath it. While he looked over the rest of the rag-tag crew, in particular Cid and Barrett who were still chuckling over the situation, with Nanaki and the damn robot flashing secretive grins his way. What was so freaking funny?! He gave a half-hearted menacing-glare towards the two "innocent" girls, who were both attempting to hide their grins.

"Just WHAT is so funny? What nickname" the beast beside him nudged his head against his side, slightly offsetting his balance, his reflexes reacted quickly and he was able to gain equilibrium. He shot a loathing glare towards the mischievous chocobo.

This sent Tifa and Aerith into another short burst of chuckles.

Cloud, thoroughly exasperated, shook his head, his hair swishing back and forth.

"Alright, we've wasted enough time, let's mosey" Cid again rolled his eyes at the term.

"Why do ya keep sayin' that pansy arse thing Spike, come on..." Cid muttered under his breath more. Cid stomped out his cigarette butt in the ground. The rest of the group was itching to get back to the Highwind.

"Come on, Chocobo-head... you need a bath before you start smelling like a Chocobo too..." The small brunette woman stifled her laughter and marched back to the ship along with pink-clad woman. The chocobo looked thoroughly indignant at being called smelly. Cloud's mako-eyes narrowed dangerously, he huffed moodily and stomped off towards the Highwind, occasionally flinging mud up onto his outfit. When would he ever stop being the butt of all the jokes? He continued the muddy trek to the ship's haven, both chocobo and chocobo-head had a dark aura of annoyance around them as they tromped up into the belly of the Highwind. Upon seeing the content expressions, and not so depressing ones, on his friends' faces Cloud let a miniscule smile escape as he returned to stand by his friends. They would continue letting the light moments relieve the burden of the unknown and uncertain future they faced.


End file.
